Lets go through the story of how a sleeve tattoo came to be
Two years ago when I was still living and working in Montreal, I had a consultation with a new client who wanted to get tattooed by me. I was very excited as being rather new to Canada I had to rebuild my clientele and this is never easy to do. So the news that I have a consultation with someone who loved my book and wants a tattoo by me, was very encouraging!
After going through several options, discussing themes, possible placements and styles, I suggested a design I had already made and really wished to tattoo. My new client loved it and so we booked the appointment!
It was his very first tattoo and sat unbelievably well for it. However for first tattoos I always offer the option of splitting it in smaller sessions, since the client can't know what to expect in regards to pain. In this case it wasn't necessary as he sat extremely well for 5 hours and so I could finish it in just one session.
I was over the moon with the choice of design because it really expressed my style as an artist and featured a theme that I am very fond of, that of Japanese Noh theatre masks.
My client was very satisfied with his first tattoo and told me that in the future he is going to have more work done by me, which made me feel very grateful. People choosing your art to decorate their bodies is one thing, but doing so more than once is an absolute honour, taking into account the limited canvas space a person can offer.
How the sleeve came to be
Two years later, I had already moved to Toronto where I reside now and my client messaged me and said he was ready to turn this tattoo into a whole sleeve. What was even better: I would have full creative freedom on the themes with minimal input from him. At first this might sound like the easiest tattoo to design as there are no restrictions, however, maybe because of the nature of my character, the more creative freedom I'm offered the more responsibility i feel to deliver my very best self as an artist.
After drafting and redrafting for a while, I came up with a design that both my client and I were really fond of and it was time to start tattooing!
Tattooing process breakdown
A sleeve will normally take several sessions to finish depending on the amount of work needed. The process might vary depending on whether its in colour or black and grey.This greatly affects the tattooing time, as colour will usually take longer. The level of detail too is another aspect that affects time and last its also the size of the arm. This was a mixed black and grey and colour piece but with red being the only colour.
On the first session I managed to finish the linework of the upper arm and all the shading and colouring in the face.
On the second second session I did the outline of the inner bicep. This area is generally very sensitive and most people have much lower pain tolerance than other parts of the body. For this reason even though my client once more sat perfectly well, after the 3 hours that it took me to finish the outline, we called it a day. We were about to do one more session the very next day so its best not to drive a person to their limits when there's more to come this soon. As for the design, when it comes to that area, I always go for something that doesn't have any straight lines and also, does not have a very strict sense of direction. The way the arm twists and turns every time we move makes this are not suitable for designs that would only look good in a certain position. I think the principles that need to be the focus in such areas is how it flows with the shape of the arm and also to have the main event be visible no matter the positioning of the arm. In this case I had the head of the snake peak out from the inside towards the outside on the lower end of the design. This way its always visible whether the arm is down or stretched. In the meantime the body and the chrysanthemum petals cover the entire area with shapes that do not need to be seen in a certain direction to be correct.
The very next day we did the third session on this sleeve and fortunately for my client, on a very comfortable area. The outside of the lower arm is very easy to tattoo as its usually much more tough than the inside.
Contrary to the inner bicep where a a design with straight lines wouldn't work well, this area is ideal. Both my client and I loved the idea of a katana and that was the best place to put it.
Throughout the whole sleeve you may have noticed that every theme is decorated by a different flower. Magnolias for the upper arm, a chrysanthemum on the inside, the original tattoo from two years ago had a peony and the katana has cherry blossoms.
Flowers are some of my favourite things to draw and they work perfectly as decorations, for framing an area or creating a sense beginning and ending.
Another repeating theme in this sleeve are snakes since they are found in both sides of the upper arm, so i added a little snake pattern on the guard (chuba) of the katana as well.
For the fourth session, for once my client didn't have to travel all the way to Toronto as I was doing a guest spot in Montreal. This time I added the pattern on the fabric of the kimono and finished the snake on the head of the woman. I also shaded the rest of what was left of the design that I had outlined on the first session.
On the fifth session, I coloured and shaded the inner bicep and added colour on the cherry blossoms.
Throughout the sessions, I would go back to some of the healed areas and do touch ups, however I usually will only do that to areas relatively close to the area I'm tattooing in that session so that the client doesn't have to heal multiple little spots in the entire arm all the time.
Tattooing can be very uncomfortable and I try not to make it worse by making the healing process even more arduous than it already is.
On the 6th session I added a few details on the upper arm that needed to be added. I felt there was a small area that needed to be filled in with a small branch of magnolia buds as it looked a little empty and disconnected from the bicep. Going back to an almost finished area in a sleeve when necessary, is absolutely valid as the finished composition will expose its weaknesses.
However the longest time in that session was spent on adding the background. I decided to do pepper shading (or stipple shading) as I'm in love with its texture against the regular magnum shading of the rest of the designs.
One very important part of designing this sleeve was finding a way to incorporate the original tattoo on the forearm in it, in a way that looked organic. The goal was to do it in a way that doesn't give away the fact that that first piece was not originally part of a sleeve composition. The cherry blossoms disappearing behind it and the shading also surrounding it worked really well, but the thing that actually made it work was that the original tattoo did not have very rigid boundaries. The edges of that design could easily accommodate for other designs enclosing it into a new larger composition, which is something I try to do most of the times I offer a smaller scale tattoo to a client. It has happened many times that someone got a smaller tattoo from me like in this case and then returned to continue a larger scale piece with the old piece incorporated in it, which wasn't the plan initially.
Finally after several sessions and around 30 hours give or take (without the older piece), this sleeve was done! I can't be more grateful to my wonderful client for trusting me with such a large piece and for giving me the creative freedom to design something that was done with so much love and appreciation to the art of tattooing. I also hope this breakdown gave you some insight on how a process for such a project works. However keep in mind that every artist works in a different way.
The main elements that we chose, Noh masks, snakes, katana and flowers all tell a story of overcoming, resilience, transformation and flourishing. Tattoos do not need to have a deep meaning other than be cherished by the wearer. However when there is one, I'm always hoping to deliver it in a way that is both in alignment with what the client wants to express and also be a piece of art that can be interpreted by anyone who sees it in their own way.
Thank you for reading my commentary on this sleeve. I will be doing this in the future for large scale pieces that have an interesting story or theme.
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